1902

1903

Cleveland Naps shortstop John Gochnauer made 98 errors. Of course he must’ve been a heckuva hitter to stay in the lineup—right? Wrong. He hit a lusty .185.

Why the Phillies sucked so bad for so long (or call him the original Dick Allen) …

Bill Keister led his team in home runs and RBIs, while batting .320. Did he win team MVP? Not sure;they released him—you can say the Phillies gave their team a kick in the Keister.

Could happen in 2006 …

Detroit Tigers manager Win Mercer commits suicide in the preseason.

1904

Couldn’t they just spit on him like regular ballplayers?

Giants players, led by skipper John McGraw, beat an umpire unconscious during spring training. Had that happened in this era, the ump would likely be forced by Don Fehr to apologize to the players for bruising their knuckles thereby risking their careers.

After that kind of abysmal season the best thing to do is revamp the pitching staff, right? Wrong. With three new starters, the Braves still have a quartet of 20-game losers: Young (16-25 ), Vive Lindaman (12-23), Jeff Pfeffer (13-22), and Gus Dorner (8-25).

And you thought Don Baylor was tough on pitchers …

The Cubs/Cardinals right hander Jack Taylor tosses 118 consecutive complete games (streak ended in 1906), and the PCL’s Rube Vickers hurls an all time organized baseball record 526 innings.

1907

Quit stahling …

Red Sox skipper Chick Stahl commits suicide during spring training.

1908

And you thought Don Baylor was tough on pitchers (part two) …

The Chicago Cubs’ Ed Reulbach tosses shutouts in both ends of a doubleheader. Walter Johnson tossed three shutouts over a four day stretch against the New York Highlanders (Yankees).

1909

In the “But you can’t measure his contributions with raw statistics! He had great intangibles and could call one hell of a game and offered leadership in the clubhouse!” department …

In 1909, Brooklyn Dodgers catcher Bill Bergen catches 112 games, and hits a magnificent .139. Bergen had over 3000 ML at bats and hit .170. His career OBP was .194 and he slugged .201, giving him a jaw-dropping, eye-popping career OPS of .395! On Aug. 23, 1909 Bergen goes 7-for-7 in throwing out base stealers.

1910

No drug testing needed here, no siree …

White Sox Hall of Famer Ed Walsh led the AL in ERA (1.26) and lost 20 games (18-20). The White Sox that year slugged a lusty .261.

But did they call him “The Chairman of the [Emery] Board”?

Canadian Yankee (OK, Highlander) Russ Ford, who popularized the “emery ball,” sets an AL rookie record with 26 wins and eight shutouts. After a two-year stint in the Federal League, Ford retired as he no longer could throw his best scuff.

1911

The blind leading the blind …

This is the first year that baseball employs more than one umpire on the field.

Giving both closers the day off …

On May 13, the New York Giants score 10 runs in the first inning against the St. Louis Cardinals before the Cards get their first out.

On June 23, Babe Ruth walks the first batter of a game against the Senators, argues the [ball four] call and is ejected. Ernie Shore comes into the game, picks the runner off first, and retires the next 26 hitters to face him.

This could happen in 2006 …

The Pittsburgh Pirates hire Hugo Bedzek as their manager. His previous job: college football coach.

1919

On July 7, Giants catcher Mike Gonzalez allows eight stolen bases in a single inning.

This will hoit. This Joe didn’t even get a song by Simon and Garfunkel and he never bagged Marilyn Monroe …

Western Leaguer Joe Wilhoit of Wichita registers hits in a record 69 consecutive games.

1920

I guess this is why they invented KY jelly …

The spitball is officially banned from baseball. Some say the impetus behind this ruling was the fatal beaning of the Indians Ray Chapman by Carl Mays. Chapman habitually hung over the plate so much that Mays claimed had the pitch not hit Chapman, it would’ve been called a strike.

I’ll bet the guy who started game three was told to pitch a complete game …

On Oct. 2, the Pirates and Reds play the final tripleheader in MLB history.

Designate THIS …

Former pitchers Babe Ruth and George Sisler set significant batting marks. Ruth slugs an all-time record .847, and Sisler bats .407.

Landis in Wonderland after chasing a white Rabbit Maranville …

Lost in the glare of the Black Sox scandal was that former Federal League batting champ Benny Kauff is thrown out of baseball for life by commissioner (and former judge) Kenesaw Mountain Landis. His crime? Being found not guilty in court for being a part of a stolen car ring. Landis felt, despite the court’s ruling, that he was probably guilty anyway.

1921

Now if we could only get the umpires to wear them …

“Specs” Toporcer becomes the first major league player to wear glasses on the field. Any guesses what bench jockeys around the NL called him?

Usually you go to the cellar to avoid things that suck so bad they register on the Fujita Scale …

For the seventh straight year the Philadelphia Athletics finish dead last.

Not my fault …

Waite Hoyt of the Yankees starts three games in the World Series, posts an ERA of 0.00, but loses the final game of the Fall Classic 1-0 against the Giants.

1922

Not him again …

Detroit Tigers Harry Heilmann hits 21 home runs. Ten of them are hit at Shibe Park against the Athletics.

Buzz Arlett plays in his sole major league season. The giant (6′ 4″, 230 lb.) Arlett, in his sole major league season with the Phillies, finished fifth in slugging, fifth in OPS and fourth in home runs with 18. However, early in his career, a Cardinals’ scout stuck the “good hit, no field” label on him, and it haunted him the rest of his career. However, his minor league career was eerily reminiscent of another pitcher turned slugger: Babe Ruth. Arlett started his career as a right-handed spitball pitcher—with the reputation of “he’s a good hitter, for pitcher”—with the hometown Oakland Oaks in 1918, and went on to win 108 games, twice going over 25 wins in a season. The Detroit Tigers looked at him, but without the spitball, which he wouldn’t be able to use in the majors, they did not consider him a prospect.

However arm miseries set in early in 1923, and Arlett switched to the outfield; however, once becoming a regular outfielder, he turned into a monster hitter, averaging nearly .360 with 30 homers and 140 RBIs through the rest of the 1920s. However, the label put on him by the Cardinal scout kept him in the minors until the Phillies took a chance on him in 1931 (the season when the National League introduced a “dead ball” in reaction to the hitting orgies of 1929-1930). Like his teammate Chuck Klein, he found hitting in the ‘Baker Bowl’ to be a tremendously rewarding experience. Regardless, at the end of the year Arlett was sent to Baltimore, where in 1932 he hit 4 homers in a game twice within a five-week period and led the league with 54 homers for the season, but he would never return to the majors.

1932

Can it really be called ‘relief’?

On July 10, A’s hurler Ed Rommel coughs up 29 hits and 14 runs in a relief appearance.